Stronghold rule confusion

['lil robo-girl]

I'm quoting from 3.1.3 in the manual:

"A DEFENSE is CROSSED by a ROBOT when that ROBOT
■ starts free of contact with the DEFENSE and completely in the NEUTRAL ZONE
■ traverses the DEFENSE such that its BUMPERS go fully between the adjacent SHIELDS/GUARDRAIL,
and
■ ends up fully contained by the opponent’s COURTYARD."

So, basically, you need to start in the neutral zone and end in the courtyard for it to count as a 'cross'. That doesn't mean you can't go backwards, it just means you won't get points for it.
I hope that helped!