Bristol City missed the chance to go top of the Championship as they were held 1-1 by Crystal Palace.
McCombe salvages a point in fifth minute of stoppage time
Bristol City missed the chance to go top of the Championship as they needed an injury-time equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace at Ashton Gate.
Lee Hills gave the visitors the lead with a sweetly-struck volley on the hour mark, but Jamie McCombe's powerful header rescued a point for the Robins who had earlier seen a Bradley Orr penalty saved by Palace keeper Julian Speroni.
A tight first half saw clear-cut chances few and far between with Palace happy to contain the Robins' most potent threats while attacking sporadically on the break themselves.
Nick Carle, who was frustrated throughout the game by the close attentions of Carl Fletcher, forced Speroni into the first save of the night after just six minutes when his low, poked effort needed turning round the post.
Dele Adebola and Clint Hill then exchanged headed chances at either end before the major talking point of the half occurred just before the half-hour mark.
Stray elbow
As Adebola chased a long ball over the top of the Palace defence Matt Lawrence appeared to prevent the striker from getting past him by elbowing him in the face. He escaped with just a yellow card, but it could have been worse as the challenge was far from subtle.
Orr and Carle then sent speculative efforts whistling past Speroni's goal before the break but Palace held on and the sides went in level at half-time.
The second period saw Neil Warnock's side pose much more of an attacking threat and Adriano Basso was forced to react well to a low drive from Shefki Kuqi inside the first three minutes.
Mark Hudson then saw his header cleared off the line by Jamie McAllister from the resulting corner as Bristol City struggled to deal with the Eagles' aerial threats.
Controlled opener
After Kuqi then dragged another effort disappointingly wide when presented with time and space in the box, Hills gave the visitors the lead on 61 minutes.
Ben Watson appeared to handle in the build-up, but once the ball reached the teenager he made no mistake in dispatching a controlled volley across Basso and into the far corner to notch his first senior goal for the club.
Once ahead, Palace then retreated back into their shell and were fortunate to see Ivan Sproule and Michael McIndoe efforts flash wide of their goal when presented with good opportunities.
With just four minutes remaining it appeared that Palace would be made to pay for their lack of endeavour when Bristol City were awarded a dubious penalty.
Late drama
Darren Byfield caused panic in the box and appeared to have his shirt pulled, with referee Richard Beeby pointing to the spot.
Orr's penalty was then saved by Speroni, who reacted brilliantly to spring to his left to keep out a second effort after the rebound fell back to the feet of the Robins player.
Then with the four minutes of allotted stoppage-time up McCombe secured a share of the spoils for the hosts when he met a late corner to power an unstoppable header past a stranded Speroni.
