Usuthu won 3-0 on penalties last night after 120 minutes of football produced a 2-2 draw at King Zwelithini Stadium.
However, Johnson was less than impressed with Bambiso, who was officiating his second match involving a topflight team after overseeing a 2-2 stalemate between Golden Arrows and Baroka at Princess Magogo Stadium on January 28.
The 21-year-old, who is studying human resources in George, has previously done duty in the National First Division.
“The referee costs me my job,” said Johnson.
“I never had a gripe with him but it is just that I went to him and I told him ‘you got to look at yourself’. I wish he can take this game and analyse it because I thought he made quite a few mistakes.
“He’s got to look at it. It is the same like me, you got to look at my team and understand where the mistakes are, exactly the same as you asking me after that.
“I saw the opposition goalkeeper, I thought he was dead! Nobody touched him but he was dead. He lay there at least one-and-a-half minutes. When you look at half-time, extra-time, he put up three minutes extra. For me those are the things he’s got to analyse himself and improve. And at the same time you cannot put that type of referee in that type of game... we’re playing here for our lives.”
Meanwhile, Johnson was reluctant to blame goalkeeper Boalefa Pule - on loan from SuperSport United - for an error that allowed ex-Orlando Pirates defender Rashane Rantabane to equalise with a header in the 122nd minute.
Rantabane also scored the opener when he bundled home a corner in the 57th minute, while Sadat Ouro-Akoriko and substitute Simphiwe Lumkwana were on target for the hosts.
“It’s part of the game and yes, you hope that the concentration can last. I think it’s a lapse of concentration on his behalf and probably on behalf of the team,” said Johnson, who gave Pule a rare chance at the expense of Siyabonga Mbatha.
“You expect him to be a lot better and you don’t put blame, because when you down you got to get back up, you got to work on it. You are going to try and create the same scenario and see if they react the same way.
“If they react the same then you know it is something in the head.”
In the shootout, Thapelo Nyongo, Akoriko and Augustine Ramphele scored, unlike Mpho Erasmus, Samkelo Ndletyana and former Usuthu striker Linda Bhengu.