And with Fernando Morientes scoring his first goal for the club since his £6.3 million arrival from Real Madrid, Liverpool have good reason to look forward with relish rather than back with regret.
Charlton led through Shaun Bartlett before Liverpool, having been thwarted twice by a crossbar, equalised through Morientes before John Arne Riise stole an 80th-minute lead.
While most of the nation will have been focused on events across London, there was very much a sense of occasion at the Valley where, 10 miles from the high-octane game at Highbury, Charlton's sense of purpose in front of their highest crowd for 27 years saw them take an early lead.
A full house of 27,102, Charlton's best crowd since they returned to their much-loved home in 1992, witnessed a fascinating opening half in which Liverpool created plenty of chances but were undone by a former player.
Much had been made of Danny Murphy's appearance against his former colleagues, and the Charlton midfielder did not disappoint, creating the opening goal for Bartlett.
Liverpool's last outing saw them qualify for the Carling Cup final by overcoming Watford. But they went into a game that had in the past caused them problems having lost three of their previous four Premiership outings.
Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, was without the suspended Antonio Nunez and Dietmar Hamann, but Sami Hyypia returned after injury.
Charlton, who had their work cut out overcoming Yeovil in the FA Cup three days earlier before claiming their fourth straight win, opted for a 4-5-1 formation, Francis Jeffers dropping to the bench and Paul Konchesky returning to a five-man midfield.
The game was only three minutes old when Murphy troubled Liverpool with a long-range, well flighted free-kick that flew just wide of Jerzy Dudek's left post. Then came a sustained period of threat from Liverpool, with Luis Garcia denied by the outstanding Dean Kiely. The ball fell to Steven Gerrard, whose reponse was to thrash it against the Charlton crossbar.
However, with 20 minutes gone and the early threat taken care of, Charlton took the lead. Murphy set off on a dangerous run down the right flank and won a corner. The massed Liverpool fans in the Jimmy Seed stand afforded Murphy a generous reception, but were then left to rue his part in the following set-piece. Murphy's corner, from the right, was perfectly placed and Bartlett, unmarked, powered a downward header beyond Dudek to claim his sixth goal of the season. Charlton continued to threaten, though before the end of a most entertaining first half Morientes was denied when Kiely made another impressive save.
Liverpool were denied for the second time by the crossbar in the 57th minute, when Luis Garcia's ball set up Riise, who struck wood with a rising shot over Kiely. Liverpool finally restored parity in the 62nd minute when Morientes got round Talal El Karkouri before dispatching a magnificent left-footed finish and then celebrating his goal in equally extravagant fashion.
Charlton, though, almost responded within 60 seconds when Konchesky's shot was parried by Dudek. The ball ran to Murphy, who saw the chance to score against his old club, only to be thwarted by a timely tackle at the far post by Djimi Traore.
A draw seemed the most probable outcome, but with 10 minutes remaining the outstanding Luis Garcia fed Riise to secure Liverpool only their fourth away win of the Premiership campaign.