Substitute Tyreece Campbell scored his third goal of the season as Charlton opened up a seven-point gap to the Championship bottom three after a 1-0 victory over Stoke at The Valley.
The visitors' miserable record in the capital continued as they have won one of their last 42 league games there, losing 27.
The south-east Londoners handed a first start of the season to last season's top-scorer Matty Godden, who had been sidelined until early January with a knee injury.
Charlton went close to the opening goal in the sixth minute but Ipswich loanee Harry Clarke's header crashed down off the underside of the crossbar from Sonny Carey's corner.
Stoke centre-back Ashley Phillips then needed to head away from his goal-line after Lyndon Dykes lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Tommy Simkin.
Carey's deliveries continued to cause problems for the visitors and another of his corners was prodded wide by Lloyd Jones before the quarter-hour mark.
Stoke's first threatening moment came in the 17th minute. Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who had a loan spell with the Addicks but made a temporary move to City from Crystal Palace in the winter transfer window, clipped the top of the bar.
Stoke controlled possession in the first period but it did not translate into many chances. They were forced to replace right-back Bosun Lawal due to injury in the 40th minute, with Maksym Talovierov introduced in his place.
Rak-Sakyi was presented with another shooting chance from Lamine Cisse's pass but drove his attempt over before the break.
Godden, replaced on the hour mark by Campbell, had a shot deflected over by Ben Wilmot and Charlton centre-back Jones volleyed into the side-netting from Luke Chambers' deep corner early in the second half.
Stoke took 59 minutes to register a shot on target - Cisse's 25-yard effort straight at home keeper Thomas Kaminski.
Campbell's introduction caused a fresh headache to the Stoke backline and he cut in from the left wing and unleashed a low strike from the edge of the box which was pushed away by Simkin in the 70th minute.
Sorba Thomas, who scored twice in the reverse fixture when Stoke won 3-0, flashed two enticing crosses across the face of Kaminski's goal as well as striking over from distance.
But Campbell made the breakthrough in the 81st minute after latching on to Dykes' flick on, the Jamaica international going past Simkin inside the box and slotting home in front of the Covered End.
Charlton's Nathan Jones:
"It has been an emotional night for me so I wanted to get off the pitch as soon as possible or I'd have got myself in trouble.
"They (Stoke fans) have given me stick ever since I was there. I mean Stoke fans gave me stick when I was there. So I expect that.
"I wouldn't read too much into that. That's part and parcel of it. They give me a little bit. I give them a little bit. Surely they realise that's banter, especially when we have won the game.
"I thought we deserved it. I had a feeling about TC (Tyreece Campbell) tonight after last Friday night's game where I didn't feel he was at it. I gave him a little bit of a chat and I just had a feeling about him tonight.
"If he realises how good he is and gets his mental side of everything right, then the kid can go all the way.
"He moves like a Premier League player. How he controls things, how he shifts, how he runs - he has all the physical attributes to be that. It's just up to us to bring that together."
Stoke's Mark Robins:
"It was a disappointing end to the night and a disappointing beginning. We didn't settle down for five or 10 minutes. Once we did do, we played ok. We got the ball and played through them, we got forward, it's that last third. We've got to do something to try to score a goal.
"Turning down shots, crosses flashing across the box and bodies not in there. We've got to try to get into the penalty area to go and tap in at the far post. Get yourself in to the area. That is unacceptable.
"I can talk about the injuries. We were without nine and we lost Bosun in the first half. It's just ridiculous the amount of people who can't get through a game. You have to think about that. I made two substitutions and I had one more opportunity with three left because of injuries and circustances. That's one thing and you work your way through that.
"If you get in good positions to go and score, you've got to be ruthless. We got in a couple of times with Jes. He hit the crossbar with the first one and fired over with the second.
"We had good opportunities to put the ball into the area and we hit the first man. We don't pick the right pass, we don't take a shot on or we take an extra pass because no one wants to take responsibility to shoot. Shoot. I have no problem if you shoot and you miss. Keep getting those shots and your goal scoring will start to improve. We haven't scored for three games.
"Take shots, go and be hungry and then become ruthless."
