The City centre-back has been out for seven weeks with an injury sustained in August at Ashton Gate after he clashed with Claude Davis of Derby and picked up a nasty facial injury which has limited his training and playing time this campaign.
McCombe played 90 minutes of a specially arranged friendly last week and is scheduled to play again this week. Despite the boost of his return the defender was keen to play down any role he may have against Norwich this weekend. He told the official website: "It's been a while since I last played, so the reserve match was good for my fitness.
"I trained all last week and have been testing my heading with (assistant-manager) Keith Millen.
"The cheek feels fine. There will be little bits that can become sore, but I've had the all-clear from the surgeon and it should be fully healed with the metal plate."