"It was an entertaining evening and a real lift for us, especially at home, as home is where you really want to get your points in front of your fans," said Chris Powell.
"The crowd could quite easily have turned at 2-0 down but I felt they dragged us through and our support was superb.
"We had only scored five goals at home before tonight and now we have doubled it.
"We were 2-0 down and then you saw the resolve and character of the players, they showed a lot of heart.
"We lost heavily on Saturday and had a few days of soul searching but they got themselves back in the game.
"The first 20 minutes of the second period we were devastating.
"Maybe we got a bit of luck we haven't had this year with Dale Stephens' goal but Rob Hulse and Danny Haynes deserved their goals.
"As a manager, I am not happy with goals against as that can count for an extra point, but it was a superb night for us."
It was a match neither defence will want to be watching again tomorrow.
Charlton's back four were dreadful early on and Cardiff profited from two Peter Whittingham corners to go 2-0 up.
Helguson glanced in the first goal in the fourth minute and Mason doubled the lead when Ben Turner's header came back off the bar.
At that point, there was no sense of what was to come but Cardiff keeper David Marshall gifted Charlton a way back into the game when he dropped a cross straight to Jackson.
A free header from a corner saw Jackson equalise before Stephens put the home side ahead when his free kick sailed over the hapless Marshall.
Haynes and Hulse scored free headers to put Charlton into dreamland before Noone and Gunnarsson provided late drama.
Cardiff manager Malky Mackay was left shaking his head at the defensive slips that saw his team suffer a third defeat in a row away from home.
"You can't legislate for individual errors," he said.
"We started really well and played as good as we have played away from home this season.
"Then David Marshall drops one he would normally gather and Johnnie Jackson will never score an easier header.
"And if Marshall loses a goal from 50 yards again I will be amazed, he had been fantastic this season.
"We lost our shape after that and players who have been consistent all season started doing things they wouldn't normally do.
"But I have a group of payers that have been incredibly consistent this season and we need to make sure we go out there on Saturday and stop the individual errors - four goals could have been avoided tonight because of that.
"Teams go through runs in this league and we are on that at the moment."