After the first two days of the match against Northern Districts were lost to rain, declarations were always on the cards to make a game of it.
Otago declared its first innings over before it had reached 100 early on Friday after losing six wickets and facing only 29 overs. Northern then went through to 223 for eight wickets before pulling out late on Friday night.
On Saturday, Otago resumed on 44 for the loss of Neil Broom, and went through to 288 all out, with Jesse Ryder, scoring 80 and Nathan McCullum notching a half century.
That left the home team needing 154 to win off 24 overs.
It had a go but losing three wickets before it had reached 35 gave it problems and eventually came up 30 runs short, with three wickets in hand.
Jimmy Neesham bowled well to take five wickets and he got good support from the likes of Sam Wells and James McMillan.
In the end, Otago came away with three bonus points while Northern Districts got two points.
Johnson was pleased with the way the Volts hung in during the game and played well on the last day.
''I think it was a wee mini win to us. We made our intentions clear straight away by declaring on 90-odd for six down. But they weren't interested in that,'' he said.
''They batted on and put all their eggs in one basket and ended up with scrambled eggs. I think we showed a lot of guts, especially in the way we bowled in that second innings. Just bowled quite cleverly.
''We could have played for 12 points but they weren't interested. We did not discuss anything with them. But you have got to be prepared to lose to try and win.''
He felt Northern did not share the same attitude. Although Northern had a go at scoring the 154 in its final innings, the home side could not get any partnerships going and lost key man Daniel Vettori cheaply.
Otago could have been in trouble in its own second innings, but Ryder showed patience to stick around and hold the side together.
His 80 came off 163 balls and took more than three hours. He hit only five boundaries, so did plenty of running, testing his body after a lay-off last week.
Otago lost its final four wickets in the second innings for 10 runs, which gave Northern Districts a sniff.
Otago will head to Invercargill later this week, to take on Wellington at Queens Park, starting on Thursday.
