With Big Sam at home recovering from a heart operation, Rovers looked a pale shadow of their normal selves as they struggled to break down a resilient Stoke defence.
In fact, if anything, Stoke looked the most likely victors over the course of the 90 minutes, but lacked a cutting edge in the final third.
Rovers passed up a golden chance to take the lead after just seven minutes. Keith Andrews lifted a clever ball over the Stoke defence for Franco Di Santo but the on-loan Chelsea striker failed to smuggle his shot past Thomas Sorensen.
From then on, it was Stoke that posed the greater threat and only the razor-sharp reflexes of Paul Robinson prevented the Potters from taking a first-half lead.
First, the England international dashed off his line and brilliantly denied Dean Whitehead, after the Stoke midfielder had sprung Rovers' offside trap.
Then Robinson came to the rescue again when he threw himself to his left to palm aside a rasping shot from Liam Lawrence.
To make matters worse, Rovers also lost David Dunn - their most creative player - to an injury in the 32nd minute.
Stoke continued to make the running at the start of the second half, and full-back Andy Wilkinson should have done better than shoot wastefully into the side-netting when he popped up inside the box.
Rovers finally came to life in the 55th minute, creating two chances in the space of 60 seconds.
An acrobatic overhead kick from Ryan Nelsen appeared to be sneaking inside Sorensen's left-hand post until the Dane dived full-length to divert it for a corner.
Then midfielder Steven N'Zonzi struck the base of the same post with a thumping angled drive.
Stoke continued to pose problems on the break, however, as Whitehead and Fuller both spurned chances inside the six-yard box.
In the end though, neither side could break the deadlock and a point apiece was about right.