City - who would have gone top of the Coca-Cola Championship with a win - looked to have missed their chance when Julian Speroni saved Bradley Orr's penalty and follow-up, but McCombe netted in the fifth minute of stoppage time to earn the Robins a point.

The Eagles had led through Lee Hills' controversial strike and looked to have held on for the win until McCombe climbed highest to meet Lee Johnson's corner with a thumping header.

Hills, 17, struck his first senior goal after an hour at Ashton Gate, with the home side feeling it should have been ruled out for a handball by Ben Watson in the build-up.

Palace had stifled the home side in a first half bereft of clear-cut chances after the game was delayed for 15 minutes when the floodlights went out because of a power failure.

The best chance of the opening half fell to City's Australian midfielder Nick Carle when he broke through the defence but his left-footed prod was tipped around the post by Speroni.

Carle was largely kept quiet as he was expertly man-marked by Carl Fletcher, while Speroni was also alert to keep out headers from Dele Adebola and McCombe.

The closest Palace came in the first half was when Clint Hill headed wide after Shefki Kuqi had nodded a well-worked corner into his path.

Palace came close early in the second half when Mark Hudson - a scorer when the Eagles won the reverse fixture last month - met Watson's corner and Jamie McAllister headed off the line with Adriano Basso beaten.

The visitors were showing far more attacking intent and Kuqi's well-struck shot was straight at the Brazilian stopper.

Kuqi - without a goal since April - was an increasing presence and he flashed a right-footed volley wide as Palace continued to press.

And they took the lead when the home side failed to clear a long throw-in properly and the ball fell to Watson, and although the ball appeared to bounce up on to his arm, he was able to tee up Hills who drilled a superb half-volley into the far corner.

City almost hit back straight away when McCombe flicked on Orr's free-kick for Ivan Sproule, but Speroni tipped his close-range shot over the top.

Robins boss Gary Johnson threw on Darren Byfield and Lee Trundle in place of Carle and Sproule to pep up his attack, and the fresh impetus almost brought an instant leveller as McIndoe flashed a cross-shot across the goal but neither Trundle nor Adebola could get a decisive touch.

The lively Kuqi then volleyed into the side netting but there was drama to come as Byfield went down in the box and referee Richard Beeby pointed to the spot despite any infringement on the striker appearing to be minimal.

Orr stepped up, but Speroni saved his poor initial effort before making an even better save from the rebound - but there was nothing he could do about McCombe's late leveller.