Kitson scored his first goal since rejoining Reading on loan from Stoke
Reading left it late to see off the challenge of Doncaster as they closed the gap on the Championship leaders.
Neither side looked capable of scoring in a forgettable first half, although Andrew Bikey and Michael Duberry had to be alert to deny Paul Heffernan.
Rovers saw James Coppinger stretchered off after the break and, after James Harper and Jimmy Kebe fired over, Dave Kitson was on hand to snatch victory.
Chris Armstrong teed up the striker who arrowed a shot into the top corner.
Reading manager Steve Coppell:
"It was important to get the right result, but the performance was very pleasing.
"If we had come away from the game with a 0-0 I think I would still have been pleased because of the performance. We were solid at the back and looked threatening going forward without really having that outstanding clear-cut chance but it always looked likely to come.
"To be fair to Doncaster, in the second half they had a couple of good opportunities and made it challenging for us, but it was still all about the quality finish from Dave Kitson."
Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll:
"We've been beaten by the odd goal by a lot of teams in this division and come off really disappointed, not with the way we've played, but with quality of the teams that have beaten us.
"But that's not the case this time, I thought Reading were excellent. Our performance was good, we defended really well as a team and were brave on the ball.
"Credit to Reading, I think they're the best side we've played by a million miles. They've got everything, pace, power and a bit of guile that you need and they impressed our boys."
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