Just skip step3. The reason it's like that and worded that way in the guide is that it's usually followed from a stating point of 9.5 to 11.x rather than 2.1 [i.e. backup of 11.x being made; downgrade to 9.2; downgrade to 2.1; a9lh; restore to 11.x via backup]
I know, but still some people if they keep 1 backup it would be the one made pre-a9lh. Obviously you can just remove a9lh but there's other stuff that would need cleaned [tickets etc. via tiksweep...]
You should keep at least 1 nand backup after a9lhing the system just for worse case