Having started their centenary year in deeply depressing style up at the Reebok Stadium, Charlton Athletic atoned for last week's 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Bolton Wanderers with a thoroughly professional performance back at The Valley, overcoming Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth side with a little help from an amazing goalkeeping error by Shaka Hislop.
Jason Euell put Alan Curbishley's men ahead midway through the first half, seizing on a loose ball, eight yards from goal, after a piece of defensive work the visitors will want to forget.
As the ball was swung low into the area by Kevin Lisbie, the presence of Shaun Bartlett appeared to distract Linvoy Primus, whose half-hearted attempt at a clearance spun tamely into the stride of Euell.
Prodded neatly home beyond the stranded figure of Hislop, Euell's goal was nothing more than Charlton deserved after an opening in which they looked by far the more threatening of the two sides.
The precision passing and crossing of Danny Murphy was at the heart of almost all the home side's chances of note, with the Portsmouth central defence failing to mark either Bartlett or Lisbie adequately.
"Bartlett first tested Hislop, the game just two minutes old when the keeper was forced to parry his close-range header, but Lisbie was also forced to watch a thumping header crash off the crossbar in the 19th minute.
Despite soaking up most of the first-half pressure, Portsmouth enjoyed threatening moments of their own, the majority of which were conjured up by the dancing feet of Lomana LuaLua, operating down the left flank.
David Unsworth sent a drive spinning past the near post of Dean Kiely after the former Newcastle winger's dizzying approach play carved open the Charlton defence and LuaLua was himself close to the leveller, almost squirming a shot past the keeper from close range.
The equaliser when it arrived however, was by some distance the finest moment of the game.
Collecting a free-kick wide on the right, just ten minutes after the break, Patrik Berger flicked the ball up with his right foot, before burying a 35-yard volley with his left beyond the stranded figure of Addicks keeper Kiely.
It was a moment of genius, deserving of earning at least a point. In the finest traditions of the game however, it turned out to be a moment of pure farce which ensured that Berger and his colleagues would go back to the South Coast empty-handed.
With just three minutes remaining, Jonathan Fortune swung a deep, hopeful free-kick into the Portsmouth area, which saw Unsworth and Arjan de Zeeuw crash into each other as they tried in vain to clear the ball.
Unsworth's header flicked backwards, towards Hislop, and somehow, as he fell on to the ball, the keeper managed to allow it to squirm under his body and over the line, not even reaching the back of the net.
Portsmouth were left to reflect on the unfairness of it all, while Charlton celebrated an opening home game of the season which threw up an unexpected late present and For both of these sides though, there is a long way to go yet, and doubtless, many more twists of fate to come.