Heerenveen tightened things up between the Eredivisie's European hopefuls by thumping PEC Zwolle 4-0 this evening.

The hosts, who are now unbeaten in eight matches, were three up by the break at Abe Lenstra Stadion and substitute Henk Veerman added a fourth late on.

It took them just three minutes to open the scoring as Luciano Slagveer scored his fourth goal in five games just three minutes in.

Heerenveen have plenty of goals in their team and Sam Larsson took his account for the campaign to five only seven minutes later by converting from Mark Uth's cross.

Uth tops their scoring charts by a distance and he slotted number 13 from the penalty spot on 43 minutes after Slagveer had been fouled.

Zwolle thrashed Dordrecht 4-0 in midweek but never threatened a comeback, and Uth completed a fine all-round display by supplying Veerman with the fourth only a minute after his 87th-minute introduction.

The result sees Heerenveen climb to sixth in the table, within four points of third-placed Zwolle.